The present invention is directed to improvements in apparatus for semi-automatically forming a length of elongate flexible material into hanks. To facilitate packaging and handling, certain types of elongate flexible material, such as electrical power cords or the like, are commonly formed into hanks comprising a series of elongated loops that are gathered at their centers and tied by one or more wraps of wire tape or other tying means.
Individual machines have been developed to form the elongate material into hanks and to tie the hanks about their centers with wire tape. However, until this time, a hanking machine has not been developed that is capable of interfacing with a tying machine such that the elongate flexible material can be formed into hanks and thereafter tied without requiring an intermediate manual operation such as removing the hanked material from the hanking machine and presenting it to the tying machine.
The barrier to this union of the hanking machine with the tying machine has been the inability of known hanking machines to accurately and repeatedly place the finished hank of elongate material in a predetermined position where it could be automatically engaged and tied by the tying machine. Known prior art hanking machines comprise a pair of post members attached to and extending vertically upward from a horizontally rotatable disc. In operation, one end of a length of elongate material is removably attached to the base of one of the posts and an operator-controlled foot switch or other activating means is operated, causing the disc to rotate. As the disc rotates, the remaining length of elongate material will be wrapped around the two revolving posts until the operator releases the foot switch, at which time the disc is brought to a stop.
The major problems with this prior art type of hanking machine are that the rotating disc will revolve as long as the foot switch is depressed, which is often longer than the time necessary to form the hank, and once the foot switch is released, the disc will stop in a random position determined by its position at the time of release of the foot switch and the stopping distance for the disc. As the point at which the foot switch is released by the operator is variable, being dependent upon the point at which the operator recognizes that the entire length of elongate material has been hanked, the angular position of the disc when it stops, and thus each hank formed thereupon, cannot be accurately predicted. Thus, in prior art machines the hank cannot be consistently presented to a tying machine or other subsequent handling apparatus in a predictable angular position, such as horizontal for example, without an operator manually removing the hank from the hanking machine and presenting it to the machine oriented in the proper attitude.
In addition, the means employed in prior art hanking machines to stop the rotating disc includes a mechanical switch attached to the disc and operated by centrifugal force. Once the foot switch is released a clutch or other means connecting the disc to a source of rotational energy is disengaged and the speed of the rotating disc begins to decrease slightly, permitting the centrifugal switch to operate and thereby cause the rotating disc to be brought to a halt by energizing a brake or other stopping means. It is impossible to predict with any degree of accuracy the length of time after the foot switch is released until the disc will slow down an amount sufficient to permit the centrifugal switch to operate. This unpredictability of the point of operation of the centrifugal switch, coupled with the operator's random release of the foot switch, practically ensures that the disc will stop each time at a different, and unpredetermined position. Moreover, as the stopping of the disc is controlled by a mechanical, centrifugally-operated switch mounted on the disc itself, the disc is limited to rotation in a horizontal plane. Operation of the disc in any other plane would introduce the effects of gravity upon the centrifugally-operated switch, thereby interfering with its intended mode of operation.